Sophomores operate Bronco Student Services

By Matt Rupel

Ever wish somebody would do your laundry for you?

Two sophomore students, Anthony Prieto and Arthur Gallanter, are offering just that and other services to students currently living in the dorms. Having officially acquired Bronco Student Services on Monday, the duo runs the business, overseeing two services: laundry delivery and summer storage.

Senior David Bass is a customer of Bronco Student Services. "I'm happy with the services," he said. "I remember being a sophomore and I would have to find time to do my laundry. I would have to wait in my room for hours while I did my laundry. Now I just have to find ten minutes to drop it off."

Students who sign up for the laundry service, drop of their dirty laundry at a designated location in their dorm. The laundry is washed and folded and then returned to the door of their room. For summer storage, students pay a fee to have items stored so they don't have to transport them back and forth at the end and beginning of each school year.

Currently, Bronco Student Services employs Santa Clara students and averages around 60 customers for its summer storage option and 40 customers for laundry.

"If we could triple those numbers," said Gallanter, "or even just double them, we'd be happy. There's huge potential."

To meet some of this potential, the entrepreneurs plan to overhaul the company by redesigning the Web site, increasing the marketing of their company and adding a new service to the company: food service.

Next fall, after the Benson renovations, students should be able to place an online order for pickup, in order to reduce congestion in Market Square. What Prieto and Gallanter are planning involves the addition of a delivery option for online orders. Currently, they are working with Santa Clara and Bon Appetít.

"At first it's only going to be available through the Bronco," said Gallanter, a management major. "Potentially it could be opened to the rest of the dinner options."

Said Prieto, an OMIS major: "The food won't just be delivered to the entrance of the building. We will be able to deliver it straight to the room."

When Prieto heard that Bronco Student Services was going up for sale, he was immediately interested and he brought Gallanter on board to purchase it. They split the cost 50/50, without any financial help from their parents.

Both Gallanter and Prieto come from entrepreneurial families. Prieto's mother is Lucy Rojas, a consultant for International Bath and Tile. His father, Jaime Prieto, owns his own tax office in Escondido called AJE & Associates. Gallanter's mother and stepfather, Joanna Rees and John Hamm, are both venture capitalists who partner in a company called VSP Capital in San Francisco.

Gallanter likes to say that he was bred for business.

Gallanter and Prieto met at orientation before their freshman year and they've gotten along ever since.

"From that we had, I think, six classes together," said Gallanter, "We became really good friends -- we did a lot of projects together."

Prieto, a member of the business school like Gallanter, also operates a web design business, though he didn't envision himself doing so.

Prieto's first business endeavor was creating a Web site for a family member. Paul Paez, a chiropractor for the North Coast Wellness Center and Prieto's cousin, asked him to design the company's Web site. "My cousin called me and asked me to do his Web site," said Prieto, "and he was really happy with the result."

The idea didn't immediately strike Prieto as a business. Paez recommended that Prieto make it a business, but "it was one of those things where he said, 'You should make this into a business,' and I was like, 'Ha ha -- yeah right.'"

The idea eventually evolved into his Web design company, The Simple Web Solution.

Gallanter's entrance into the entrepreneurial world was slightly different. He started a non-profit organization.

When Gallanter attended Town School for Boys, a private elementary school in San Francisco, it was required that all children have a laptop. During middle school, he had the chance to speak with business men from Nigeria.

"I asked if kids were using computers and laptops," said Gallanter. "and he told me that most adults don't own a computer in Nigeria."

Gallanter then started his non-profit organization, the Global Technology Exchange Foundation. He collected used laptops from his area and then gave them to schools in Nigeria.

During its four-year operation, over 100 laptops were donated to Nigeria.

Since then, as business owners and students, both Prieto and Gallanter have had to learn to balance both aspects of their lives.

"I have to be really organized," he said, "I have my e-mails color coded, my calendars sync between my computer and phone and I handle all of my e-mails through a client."

As part of their juggling plan, the two plan to begin implementing the changes to Bronco Student Services over the summer.

Contact Matt Rupel at mrupel@scu.edu.